Baekjuddo and Seochunguk’s eighteen sons are great mountain deities in their villages. These gods, the hunter lords of the mountain, are often paired with powerful goddesses. In some cases, these ‘couple gods’ or bubaegan/bubushin reside in seperate, but nearby shrines. Shamans lead rituals dedicated to these gods in lunar January, on the 14th day of…
Tag: Korean shamanism
A Guide to Shamanism on Jeju Island, Part Two: Post Two: Baekjjudo, the Grandmother Goddess of Songdang Village
There is a village shrine, on the eastern side of Jeju Island, which is very significant in shrine cosmology. This is the shrine, situated in Songdang-ri, where the goddess Baekjuddo or Geumbaekju/Geumbaekjo resides. It is natural that we explore Jeju shrines starting here. Baekjuddo (ddo or tto signifies a particularly powerful deity) is the mother…
A Guide to Shamanism on Jeju Island, Post Nine: Snake Shrines
Snake deity worship is not limited only to the pantries and gardens of Jeju Island homes. There are also village shrines dedicated to the worship of serpents—whose origins differ from that of the Chilseong gods. These deities play the role of shrine deities, like those found in all Jeju villages. In the case of these…
A Guide to Shamanism on Jeju Island, Post Seven: The Chilseong Serpent Myth
The Chilseong myth, one of Jeju Island’s twelve standard epic myths, explains the origin of the serpent deities that reside in the home. We will get into the Ilban Bonpuri, or standard epics, in more detail in later posts. These are the myths central to the island’s mythic canon, which shamans recite at length in…
A Guide to Shamanism on Jeju Island, Post Three: The Door God’s Epic
The Munjeon Epic—The Door God’s Myth (simplified plot) The following is the plot of Munjeon Bonpuri, the Door God’s epic, which relates to us the foundation myths of the household deities introduced in Post One. Keep in mind that the the following is the plot of the epic, not a direct translation of the epic itself. While some…
A Guide to Shamanism on Jeju Island, Post Two: Sacred Island
The house is sacred. The yard is sacred. The lanes are sacred. The village is sacred. The fields and wooded regions surrounding the village are sacred. The mountain is sacred. The sky and earth below are sacred. The sea is sacred. This world is sacred—populated with divine beings—gods and ancestor spirits. Halla Mountain, and the…
pagansweare 